WRU Unplugger of the Year

The WRU Unplugger of the Year need not be a monarchist, nor regret the fall of the Old European Order. The WRU Unplugger of the Year is simply the one who is considered to have done most in bringing about the unplugging of the Wilson Revolution.

This year's awardee has done a most excellent job at opposing the interventionism of the federal government of those United States that is at the core of the Wilsonian world order. The awardee is the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute of Peace and Prosperity, an institute that saw its first full calendar year in 2014, and that is committed to opposing American foreign interventionism.

The 2014 WRU Unplugger of the Year is:

Daniel McAdams

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Quote of the Month

Writes Mr. Michael Anissimov over at his weblog More Right:

Whether democracies inevitably collapse into dictatorships remains to be seen, but the first part, the association of democracy and big government, is historically obvious. No traditional state had a government the size of which even vaguely approaches that of today’s. In broad outlines, there are two major differences in the system of government between today’s and that prior to the French Revolution: 1) democracy instead of monarchy and 2) big government instead of small government. The other differences (such as the alleged moral superiority of democracy) are just commentary.

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Randoms of December

Over at his weblog More Right, Mr. Michael Anissimov responds to an attack from David Brin of last year, and Mr. Anissimov says:

Just because a mob can storm a palace and murder a king in cold blood does not mean that democracy is the end-of-history best government ever.

Over at Mises Canada, Ms. Lilly Wang writes on the situation in Hong Kong and concludes:

The major focus should be on the Rule of Law. The question to ask is how to make sure the government is bounded by the law, and how the Judiciary and Legislative Council will be well maintained. Hong Kong inherits British Common Law, which is more complete than the civil law in mainland China. It will be easier to make changes. These institutions are the keys to a free society, and they need much more time and effort to be improved. Changes may be minor, and less noticeable than a request to vote for a Chief Executive, but these institutions will be far more reliable.

Over at Taki's Magazine, writes Mr. Michael Warren Davis:

But the idea that Americans adore the Duchess of Cambridge because she happens to have magnificent taste is as patently silly as the idea that monarchy was the real wedge that drove England and America apart. In fact, a brilliant new book by Eric Nelson, called The Royalist Revolution (out this October on Harvard University Press), shows how the patriots overwhelmingly saw themselves as rebels against Parliament, but for the king. It wasn’t until George III removed the revolutionaries from royal protection that they struck out on their own republican path.

Says PolarWashington:

Thus when power is diffused, as in a democracy, one finds that nobody is responsible for the current state of affairs.

Utters Mr. P. D. Mangan:

Modern skeptics are only skeptical of what they've been told to be skeptical of. On everything else they're gullible as children.

Expresses AntiDem:

"We're on the right side of history" say people who both hate and are blankly ignorant of history.

Mr. Schuyler Dugle responds:

and also who have no clue how history works.

Exclaims Duck Enlightenment:

being pro-democracy is basically like saying you think trending hashtags are an appropriate way to run a government

Over at his blog Commonsense & Wonder, articulates Mr. Bruce Fein:

Democratically elected leaders can be every bit as tyrannical and aggressive towards the United States as unelected dictators. Hamas, listed as an international terrorist organization, decisively triumphed in Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006. It has ruled in Gaza since 2007, routinely denies human rights, chronically attacks Israel, and execrates the United States.

Apostolic Coronation

Two years short of a century ago today, the latest Hungarian coronation took place.

A POTUS Born

Two years short of eight score years ago today, the bête noire and the Persona Non Grata of this weblog was born.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a merry Christmas.

Enjoy from the Kaiserstadt:

Romanov Christmas memories:

The Christmas Truce

A hundred years ago, the first Christmas Truce of the Great War took place.

Kaiserin-Königin Elisabeth

177 years ago today, Elisabeth of Bavaria was born.

The Fed 101

In this centennial year of the outbreak of World War I, 101 years ago today, the bête noire of this weblog signed the Federal Reserve Act into law.

It's Christmas Season

Some Randoms

All over at LewRockwell.com:

Says Dr. Michael S. Rozeff:

Is it the policy of the U.S. government to assure freedom and democracy in every land on earth and for all of its peoples? This is a practical impossibility that results in continual war. If it ever succeeded, the result would be global tyranny. Have Americans appointed themselves the unilateral and universal crusaders and administrators of freedom and democracy? This role is impossible too. It runs up against the individual developments in one nation after another. It runs aground on the ambiguities of what freedom means, what democracy means, and the flaws of democracy. It runs aground on the self-interests and imperial interests of those who control the U.S. government. This too is why freedom and democracy are not sufficient arguments for interventions.

Asks Mr. Eric Margolis:

But on the Western Front, generals on all sides kept sending their men on suicidal bayonet charges across dense wire in the face of interlocking machine gun fire and shrapnel. How could they have been so foolish?

Says Dr. Hunt Tooley:

The stalemate “crisis” also justified related repression of all kinds: the internment of “enemy aliens,” new and commodious rights of confiscation of property, jail time for all kinds of nay-sayers, the command economy, the national security state (broadening and creation of state security police, patriot laws like the Defense of the Realm Act in Britain), the state assault on privacy, and much more.

Dr. Tooley also reviews WWI history.

Continent Design

Four years short of a century ago today, the bête noire of this blog arrived for the post-WWI Versailles conference.

Queen of Kenya

50 years ago today, Queen Elizabeth II was deposed as Queen of Kenya.

Previously: Independence of Kenya

Passing of King Oscar II

A century and seven years ago today, Oscar II, King of Sweden and formerly King of Norway, passed on – in his 79^th year.

Infamy Indeed

97 years ago today, the Persona Non Grata and bête noire of this weblog signed the declaration of war against Austria-Hungary, after having spoken three days earlier. The motion to declare war passed unopposed in the United States Senate. It was opposed by one honorable United States Representative. This war had become for the Allied Powers almost exclusively – if not entirely – a war to make the world safe for unfettered mass democracy, although the British Empire had to wait a while to have that unleashed upon it.

A Voyage for King Demos

Four years short of a century ago today, the bête noire of this blog set sail aboard the USS George Washington to redraw the map of Europe and make the world safe for King Demos.

Bonaparte Coronation

21 decades ago today, General Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of the French.

Franz Josef's Accession Day

166 years ago today, the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria commenced.

Quote of the Month

Writes Mr. Theodore Dalrymple over at Taki's Magazine:

Modern politicians, having been given the mandate of heaven (vox populi vox Dei), do not accept limitations of their authority or their moral competence, even if, in practice, only a third or even a quarter of the eligible voters have voted for them. Procedural correctness is all that is necessary for such a man to feel justified in pursuing his own moral enthusiasms at other people’s expense.

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Stefan Zweig Born

133 years ago today, Stefan Zweig, author of Die Welt von Gestern, was born.

Democracy as Communism Light

Johan Scharffenberg at 145

In this Norwegian constitutional bicentennial year, 145 years ago today, Johan Scharffenberg was born.

Scharffenberg was active in 1905 for the republican cause in the Kingdom of Norway, but at the end of World War II he was behind a move to give more powers to the King.

Two Emperors and a Crown Prince

98 years ago today, Emperor-King Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary passed away – ending a reign eleven days short of 68 years.

Archduke Karl ascended the thrones of the Dual Monarchy as Emperor-King, with his eldest son, Archduke Otto as Crown Prince.

New Jersey and the Bill of Rights

225 years ago today, the State of New Jersey ratified the United States Bill of Rights.

Smith Passing at 7

Seven years ago today, Ian Douglas Smith passed away.

Happy Anniversary!

To Her Britannic Majesty and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.

They married three years short of seventy years ago today.

Uncrowned Emperor 102

Today marks the 102^nd birthday of the late Archduke Otto of Austria – the fourth after his passing.

Happy National Day, Monaco!

The Principality of Monaco, one of two monarchies in Europe where the monarch can actually in any meaningful way be said to still be ruling, celebrates her National Day.

Congratulations! Especially to the Princely Family and the people and residents of Monaco! And good wishes for the expected heirs!

Mehmed VI Expelled

Eight years short of a century ago today, Mehmed VI was expelled and departed Constantinople.

The King's Norwegian PM

In this constitutional bicentennial year, two years short of two centuries ago today, Christian August Selmer, Norwegian Prime Minister of King Oscar II, who fought with His Majesty against the usurping Parliament during the “constitutional crisis” of the 1880s, was born.

Prime Minister Selmer met with King Oscar at Sofiero Palace to discuss how to handle the “constitutional crisis.”

Viva o Imperador!

Five quarters of a century ago today, Emperor Pedro II was deposed.

125 years of Interregnum is far more than enough!

Landsdowne on the Great War

Two years shot of a century ago today, Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, the 5^th Marquess of Lansdowne, former Governor General of Canada and Viceroy of India, expressed disagreement with the Allied war effort. About a year later, he wrote (according to the History Channel):

[The] prolongation [of the war] will spell ruin for the civilized world, and an infinite addition to the load of human suffering which already weighs upon it[...]

Rogers and Schiff

On what's up ahead:

All Quiet

Eight dozen years ago today, the guns of the Great War fell silent – the first anniversary of Armistice Day after the centennial of the beginning of that same dreadful war.

On the same day, the Emperor of Austria renounced power and the Austro-Hungarian Imperial-Royal Family moved from Schönbrunn to internal exile at Eckartsau.

Two days later, the Hungarian equivalent to the Austrian renunciation was signed at Eckartsau.

A world ended, it was the dawn of a new age, the era of Wilsonian mass democracy.

On the day 29 years later, on November 11, 1947, Winston Churchill delivered his famous dictum on democracy (also: on his supposed quote on a five minute conversation with an average voter). He did so in defense of the prerogatives of the House of Lords. The following year the first volume of Churchill's six-volume work on World War Two came out. In his assessment of World War One and its end, Churchill praised the achievements of the Habsburg monarchy and decried how World War One was a war of peoples who could not come to good terms with each other, as opposed to how the aristocrats managed affairs at the Congress of Vienna just over a hundred years earlier.

It is too the anniversary of the House of Lords Act 1999.

This seems to be a day for modern democracy. At least, the end of a dreadful war should indeed be celebrated, as a deed in itself.

Faber, Schiff, and Greenspan

On the money madness:

Abdication Announcement

In this centennial year of the outbreak of the war to end civilization, four years short of a century ago today, Emperor Wilhelm II's abdication was announced.

Austria and Uncle Sam

In this centennial year of the outbreak of World War One, seven years short of a century ago today, the peace treaty after the Great War between Austria and those United States came into force.

The October Revolution

Four years short of a century ago today, the world was struck by Red October.

Greenspan on Gold and Money

In the present money madness:

Woods Explains the Austrian Business Cycle Theory

In the present money madness, Dr. Tom Woods gives a simple but excellent explanation of the Austrian business cycle theory:

Swedish-Norwegian Union

Two centuries ago today, the Kingdoms og Sweden and Norway were joined in union through the Norwegian Parliament's constitutional revision of this day, resulting in what is known as the November Constitution.

Germanosphere Rebels

In this year of the centennial of the outbreak of World War I, four years short of a century ago today, revolutionaries were making their way in Austria-Hungary and Germany.

The Ottoman Sultanate

92 years ago today, the Ottoman Sultanate was abolished.

Burke's Reflections on France

In this year of 225 years since the outbreak of the French Revolution, a year short of nine quarters of a century ago today, Edmund Burke had his Reflections on the Revolution in France appropriately published.

Quote of the Month

Writes “Anti Democracy Blog”:

Soviet Communism, too, talked incessantly about being “on the right side of history”; of ultimate, global victory being “inevitable”.

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Bertrand de Jouvenel at 111

Eleven decades and a year ago today, Bertrand de Jouvenel was born.

Writes Bruce Frohnen over at The Imaginative Conservative:

Ironically, Jouvenel observed, what made the state so dangerous in modern times was precisely what to most people gave to it its legitimacy: democracy. To many, this recognition of the dark side of democracy rendered Jouvenel’s thought suspect, at best.

Professor Frohnen writes further:

The greatest danger in democratic times, Jouvenel (like Tocqueville) saw, was the emptying out of society of all the institutions and communities in which people actually live. The resulting landscape of atomized individuals and the state, the mode of society propounded by too many who claim to seek the protection of individual “rights,” would spell the end of liberty, and of any decent social order. Too often overlooked by many libertarians, the “makeweights” of social institutions (including, of course, the church) were necessary for both human flourishing itself and for the cabining of political power within the bounds necessary for any decent society.

Happy Halloween!

Want to have a scare?

Take a look at modern civilization unmasked!

Turkish Interregnum at 91

Seven baker's dozen years ago today, Turkey was proclaimed a republic.

Four years short of a century ago tomorrow, the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of the Great War agreed to an armistice.

What Uncle Sam Has Money For...

H/T: The Daily Paul (no, your host blogger does not endorse this way of using the word “like”)

Oscar II Abdicated

A year short of eleven decades ago today, King Oscar II abdicated the ancient throne of St. Olav, formally ending the union of Sweden and Norway, being a step on the march towards ever increasing democracy.

George III, King of America

A dozen score years ago today, the First Continental Congress petitioned His Majesty George III to address grievances.

It was on his 14^th Accession Day. 254 years ago today George III ascended the Britannic throne.

Constant at 247

Three years short of a quarter of a millennium ago today, Benjamin Constant was born.

A quote:

The choice of the people belongs to men who command attention, who attract respect, who have acquired the right to esteem, confidence, and popular recognition. And these more energetic men will also be be moderate. People always take mediocrity as peaceful. It is peaceful only when it is locked up. When chance invests it with power, it is a thousand times more incalculable in its motion, more envious, more obstinate, more immoderate, and more convulsive than talent, even when emotions lead the latter astray.

Lecky Passing at 111

Eleven decades and a year ago today, William Edward Hartpole Lecky, who stood up against the rising age of democracy, passed on from this world.

I read his two-volume work Democracy and Liberty from start to end not too long ago. One of his many insights are:

No danger in representative government was deemed greater than that it should degenerate into a system of veiled confiscation—one class voting the taxes which another class was compelled to pay.

Feast Day of Blessed Charles

Today is Blessed Emperor-King Karl's Feast Day. A century and three years ago today, then Archduke Karl married Princess Zita.

Propaganda Depicted

German mockery (with option of English subtitles):

H/T: Daniel McAdams, The LRC Blog

Ortega y Gasset Passing

A year short of three score years ago today, José Ortega y Gasset passed from this world.

Queen to the Guillotine

In this year of 225 years since the outbreak of the French Revolution, 221 years ago today, Queen Marie Antoinette was brutally murdered.

The Real Climate Monster

Over at Enter Stage Right, says Mr. Tom Harris and Dr. Bob Carter:

But he [Mr. DiCaprio] has identified the wrong monster. The real one is the climate scare – something DiCaprio promotes with his sensationalist, error-riddled movie. That is the real threat to civilization.

Anatole France Passing

In this year of the centennial of the outbreak of the Great War, three quarters of a century and a year ago today, François-Anatole Thibault, also known as Anatole France, passed on.

Some quotes:

Another quote:

For every monarchy overthrown the sky becomes less brilliant, because it loses a star. A republic is ugliness set free.

Swiss Gold Initiative

The Swiss are to vote on gold and money this upcoming November 30.

Mr. Lukas Reimann, member of the National Council from the Canton of St. Gall, has given this speech in favor of the Swiss gold initiative (English subtitles):

More information (via LRC).

Poll Results: World War One Was the End of Western Civilization. What Is this Statement?

The results for the poll, with the question “World War One was the end of Western Civilization. What is this statement?,” ending at midnight between September and October, are as follows:

Total votes: 29.

• almost completely true: 11 (37%)
• completely true: 6 (20%)
• mostly true: 6 (20%)
• a bit more true than false: 2 (6%)
• a bit more false than true: 1 (3%)
• mostly false: 1 (3%)
• almost completely false: 1 (3%)
• None of the [alternatives]: 1 (3%)
• half truth, half falsehood: 0 (0%)
• completely false: 0 (0%)

A new poll will be up soon.

Quote of the Month (September)

Writes the host blogger of Once I Was A Clever Boy:

Those who thought that getting rid of the Hohenzollerns and the other German dynasties and bringing in the age of the common man were, of course, to be in for a very nasty shock when they saw what the common man could, and indeed did, turn out to be like.

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Randoms of September

Over at LewRockwell.com, writes Dr. Michael S. Rozeff:

The White House lawyers create their own judicial and legal interpretations so as to give the presidents what they want as justifications for their wars, their torture, their assassinations, their anti-constitutional activities, and their executive orders.

Also at LewRockwell.com, Mr. Patrick J. Buchanan gives his thoughts on the RMS Lusitania.

Again at LewRockwell.com, Dr. Ralph Raico gives his take on the outbreak of World War I.

Further, “Bionic Mosquito” provides a list of historical myths.

The Daily Mail reports that Emperor Hirohito was opposed to war according to a new biography (via LRC).

Over at The American Conservative, Mr. Alan Pell Crawford writes of George Washington's fear of political organization.

Also at The American Conservative, Dr. Lee Walter Congdon reviews Daniel J. Mahoney's The Other Solzhenitsyn: Telling the Truth About a Misunderstood Writer and Thinker.

Further, Dr. Patrick J. Deneen says:

Tocqueville expresses discomfort of how best to call this kind of government, since at all times in the past, a tyranny implied a form of government imposed by force upon a people against their will. But this new specter, “democratic despotism,” arises through the invitation and desires of the democratic citizenry itself.

The Mad Monarchist most fortunately ends his strike and gives accounts of the British and Russian armies of World War I.

P.D. Mangan makes a case for stop subsidizing degeneracy.

The host blogger of Tea at Trianon has read Gareth Russell's The Emperor's: How Europe's Rulers Were Destroyed by the First World War and gives an insight.

Portuguese Interregnum at 104

Eight baker's dozen years ago today, the interregnal government of Portugal commenced.

Viva o Rei!

Peter Hitchens on Monarchy, Religion, and Culture

Economic Wisdom in Video Games

H/T: The Daily Paul

Bill of Rights Passes Congress

225 years ago today, the United States Congress proposed the Bill of Rights.

SCOTUS at 225

225 years ago today, the SCOTUS saw the light of day.

Christopher Bruun at 175

175 years ago today, Christopher Bruun was born.

He had a pamphlet against the union dissolution in 1905 published abroad that same year. In the pamphlet he spoke up against the concept that the majority is in the right:

George III Coronation

253 years ago today, George III of the United Kingdom was crowned.

Tea at Trianon provides a quote.

More Police State

Scotland to the Polls

Today Scotland goes to the polls over the issue of independence from the United Kingdom. Even 16-year-olds are admitted to the polls. What a wonderful brave new world. Royal World says the next item on the agenda is the abolition of the monarchy. That is likely to be correct.

Popper Passing

A score years ago today, Karl Popper passed away in the metropolis on the Thames.

Siege at Savannah

235 years ago today, as a precursor to the Siege of Savannah, General Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, Comte d'Estaing captured some British ships.

Falsen at 232

232 years ago today, Christian Magnus Falsen was born. Falsen was one of the leading men at Eidsvold. He was a proponent of aristocratic and monarchical power. However, at the Constitutional Convention at Eidsvold in 1814 he was soft on popular sovereignty. He did recover from such thoughts after a few years.

Severin Løvenskiold

Two years short of eight score years ago today, Severin Løvenskiold passed away.

Løvenskiold was governor of Norway until his demise in 1856. He was a delegate at the Constitutional Convention at Eidsvold in 1814, said to be the most reactionary representative, even supposedly rejecting the principle of popular sovereignty.

Mencken at 134

134 years ago today, H.L. Mencken was born.

In November, the H.L. Mencken Club hosts its 2014 conference – October 31 through November 2.

Mencken is indeed needed in this day and age. His Notes on Democracy is full of witty wisdom.

Pauls and Farage on ISIS

H/T: The Daily Paul

Ambassador Dumba

One hundred years ago today, the United States Secretary of State Robert Lansing demanded Austro-Hungarian Ambassador Konstantin Dumba recalled.

Robert A. Nisbet

Two years short of a score years ago today, Robert Alexander Nisbet passed on.

A Selection from August

Over at LewRockwell.com, writes “Bionic Mosquito”:

Barzun identifies the Great War, and at it roots the transition from classical liberalism to a socialist society, as the beginning of the end for Western civilization. It seems to me that we are now living through the final convulsions, as witnessed by the remaining centralizing structures acting and reacting almost reflexively to maintain and extend control in the face of the inevitable progression toward decentralization.

Also at LewRockwell.com, writes Ryan McMaken:

Europe during the bourgeois century was certainly no utopia. The new cities were filled with disease, pollution, and crime. Medical science had yet to achieve what it would in the twentieth century, and of course, standards of living remained low when compared to today. But even if we consider these problems, which plague many societies even today, the enormous gains made for ordinary people, thanks to industrialization and the rise of free trade, were fostered all the more by the rise of classical liberalism which actively sought to avoid war, political repression, and economic intervention as the means to a more prosperous society.

Too at LewRockwell.com, writes Eric Margolis:

As a former soldier and military historian, I’ve always felt that WWI was the most tragic conflict in modern history: a totally avoidable madness that wrecked Europe’s glittering civilization and led directly to World War II, Hitler and Stalin.

Tea at Trianon provides a quote regarding August of 1914.

Over at his weblog Royal World, Theodore Harvey gives some thoughts on democracy. More August musings from Royal World.

Says Peter Hitchens in a Mail on Sunday column:

The best thing would be to get the old hereditaries back, but our media and political classes are too stupid and malevolent to allow that.

At his blog, Mr. Hitchens also says:

The Wiki Man continues to dispute clear facts about the British declaration of war on Germany in 1914, available to any interested party, claiming that they are matters of opinion.He even suggests that (despite it being well known to everyone interested that it wasn't so) that the Commons did vote on our entry into war. They did not. I understand that this *seems* incredible to anyone used to the modern age, and to anyone who thinks that our entry to war was an open and honest process. But it is by grasping that these unbelievable things actually happened (or did not happen) that we understand that the entry into war was not open or honest. There was no obligation to Belgium. Parliament had no opportunity to vote on the war until after it had irrevocably begun.

Independence of Brazil

Four squared dozen years ago today, the future Emperor Dom Pedro I proclaimed the independence of Brazil.

Quote of the Month (August)

Writes Dr. Paul E. Gottfried over at The Unz Review:

If one could go back in time and tell these delegates they were founding a global democracy based on human rights, and that they were putting the US on a course toward converting the entire planet to something called “liberal democracy,” they would have viewed the speaker as mad.

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Convening of the Continental Congress

A dozen score years ago today, the first Continental Congress convened.

Roth 120

Six score years ago today, Joseph Roth was born.

Tolkien Passed

41 years ago today, J.R.R. Tolkien passed from this world.

The King's Man

125 years ago today, Christian August Selmer, Norwegian Prime Minister of King Oscar II, who fought with His Majesty against the usurping Parliament during the “constitutional crisis” of the 1880s, passed away.

Freedom and Democracy

Prof. Pavel Yakovlev talks about freedom and democracy:

Glenn Greenwald Speaks

Glenn Greenwald addresses the 2014 Young Americans for Liberty National Convention:

H/T: The Daily Paul

Wyndham at 151

151 years ago today, George Wyndham – the “die-hard” Commons opposition leader to Parliament Act 1911 – was born.

To quote:

When [the Prime Minister] came to this point in his speech yesterday he was kind enough to say that he did not challenge the sincerity of those who believe—as we do sincerely believe—that this measure will erect a despotic Single Chamber rule, and becoming more and more impressive in his manner he wound up that portion of his speech by saying that this was the most unsubstantial nightmare that had ever affected the imagination. As his manner became more and more impressive so did the matter which he was unfolding become less and less convincing.

Goethe at 265

265 years ago today, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born.

This year marks the 225^th anniversary of the entry into force of the U.S. Constitution and the outbreak of the French Revolution. It also marks the bicentennial of the Norwegian Constitution. And not least the centenary of the outbreak of the war that was to be known as the war to make the world safe for democracy.

On this occasion we have a fitting quote:

Legislators and revolutionaries who promise equality and liberty at the same time are either psychopaths or mountebanks.

And another fitting one:

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.

Stossel on the Thought Police

Rights Declared

225 years ago today, the National Constituent Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

Monckton and Stossel on Climate Change

A Prince of France

A baker's dozen score years ago today, the future Louis XVI was born.

Vive le Roi de la France!

Police State USA

Cheryl K. Chumley has recently written Police State USA: How Orwell's Nightmare is Becoming our Reality.

Ms. Chumley is interview by Mike Huckabee:

More related videos:

H/T (videos): The Daily Paul (and here)

Stossel: Equality vs. Liberty

Popeye and the Taxman

In Popeye, Popeye – with Robin Williams in the role – handles the taxman:

H/T: Scott Lazarowitz, The LRC Blog

Peter Schiff on the Madness

Franz Josef 184

Four squared years short of two centuries ago today, Archduke Franz Josef was born.

Gott erhalte und beschütze den Kaiser!

Archduke Charles

127 years ago today, Archduke Charles of Austria – later Emperor-King – was born.

Gott erhalte und beschütze den Kaiser!

National Day in Liechtenstein

Happy National Day!

Today is also the tenth anniversary of Hereditary Prince Alois as permanent regent.

Hoch leb' der Fürst vom Land!

The Convention of Moss

Two hundred years ago today, the Convention of Moss was signed. Two centuries have passed without war between any Nordic countries.

Snowden Interview

Rogers on the Money Madness

Virginia Burgesses

Half a decade short of four centuries ago today (July 30 in the Julian Calendar), the first elected legislature in America – the Virginia House of Burgesses – convened. In this year of 225 years since the outbreak of the French Revolution and the entry into force of the U.S. Constitution.

On a personal note, BTW, every time I do such a foolish thing as to taste an M&M, or any other form of chocolate for that matter, I spit it out.

Nagasaki at 69

69 years ago today...

The war to make the world safe for democracy on steroids...


Elsewhere: The LRC Blog


Previously: Hiroshima at 69, Nagasaki Bombed

FreedomFest 2014

The Las Vegas 2014 FreedomFest took place over a few days in the first half of July. Here are some videos from the event:

More FreedomFest videos from 2014 – and 2013.

The Great War a Crusade?

Over at The American Conservative, Richard Gamble reviews Philip Jenkins' The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade.

Vienna against St. Petersburg

Two years short of a century ago today, following the first day of battle, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on the Russian Empire.

The successor to the Western Roman Empire and the successor to the Eastern Roman Empire were at full war with each other.

The old order was at each other at gunpoint. To paraphrase, Sir Edward Grey, the lights were indeed going out.

Hiroshima at 69

A year short of seven decades ago today...

Over at LewRockwell.com, Dr. Gary G. Kohls laments the dropping of the bombs.

War Loose in Europe

A century ago today, the first battle of the Great War began.

Over at Taki's Magazine, says Theodore Dalrymple:

For myself, I believe that the assassination was disastrous in effect and furthermore a wicked act. Franz Ferdinand was not a bad man, if not always an attractive one, and his dying words to his dying wife—“Sophie dear, don’t die, stay alive for the sake of our children”—still have the power to move, as has his insistence that his wound was nothing. A man may be tender in his personal relations and stoical in the face of suffering, and yet be a monster politically, but Franz Ferdinand was no political monster.

Writes The Guardian:

The Royal Armouries has verified that silk has bullet-stopping capabilities – but Archduke Franz Ferdinand forgot to wear his the day he was assassinated.

Elsewhere on the war: The Mad Monarchist, Ad Orientem (more)

Empires at War

100 years ago today, the bête noire of this weblog proclaimed neutrality in the Great War.

Also on the same day, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland declared war. Sir Edward Grey had given a speech in the House of Commons about the lamps the night before:

The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.

It was only a week after Bad Ischl.

Abolition of Feudalism

225 years ago today, the National Constituent Assembly moved to abolish feudalism.

Franco-German Conflict

A century ago today, Imperial Germany and the Third French Republic declared war on each other.

Faber on the Money Madness

Randoms of the Summer

Writes Dr. Gary North over at his website:

It wound up with a military dictator, Oliver Cromwell: 1649-1659. He was replaced by a new king in 1660. But the Parliament continued to centralize its power, and the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and 1689 stripped much of the power of the King, but it did not reduce government power; it simply transferred it to Parliament. Parliament adopted a theory of parliamentary sovereignty second to none in the history of tyranny. It claimed, and it still claims, that it has final sovereignty over all aspects of British life. There was no written constitution to restrain it. There was only the common law to restrain it. That was something important, but the centralization continued. It continues today.

The Mad Monarchist is probably the most prolific for the pan-monarchist cause in the blogosphere. He has published his thoughts on his future as a blogger and has announced a strike. Let's hope he does in some way continue his great contribution in near future.

The Mad Monarchist writes:

It is true that, ultimately, considering what are known as alternate histories is a waste of time. We can never know for sure what would have happened, what might have been or how this or that would have worked out. However, if kept in its proper place, such speculation can be of at least some benefit. As well as providing some creative exercise that might generate valuable ideas, I also have found it a good tool for bringing people to an understanding of free will, that the way the world is today did not just happen inexorably but was the result of past decisions. If different decisions had been made, we would be living in a different sort of world. Actions have consequences and this is a point that can be brought home by considering alternate possibilities.

[...]

As we recently saw the annual celebration of America’s Declaration of Independence, it may be worthwhile or at least entertaining to consider what might have happened if such a declaration had never been made. Likewise, if it had, what might have happened if Britain had won the war and the American colonies remained in the British Empire?

First of all, despite the way most people make it sound, America would not be some sort of oppressed, downtrodden land of miserable tyranny. Under the British Crown the American colonies already had a higher standard of living and more individual freedom than most people in the world. King George III was no tyrant, he did not get his way all the time and he never refused Royal Assent to any acts of Parliament.

In an earlier post he writes:

Today Americans celebrate Independence Day but, of course, as is usual with such cases, the ideas that are celebrated are more myth than reality.

And back in mid-June he wrote:

Based on what I have seen, this usually comes down to the idea that, since libertarians think anyone should have the freedom to do whatever they want, it is absurd to say they do not have the right to choose their head of state. I must confess, that sort of “logic” never made sense to me. I thought libertarianism was about having the right to make decisions for yourself, not for other people. That is what democracy is all about; 51% of the herd making decisions for the other 49%.

[...]

The closest the world ever came to a privatized society was in the monarchial Middle Ages and while it is, in theory, at least possible that a more libertarian society could come about in a monarchy, it is impossible to believe that a democracy could ever be libertarian when everyone is always just one vote away from having it all come crashing down.

Asks Mr. Theodore Harvey over at his weblog Royal World:

[I]f the Regicide of 1793, undeniably one of the most horrible acts in History, was truly a "point of no return," how was it that France had various monarchies for two thirds of the following century?

Royal World also brings some thoughts on monarchism.

Tea at Trianon has a note on the French court and the American rebels.

Ad Orientem has an old quote from Gerald Warner.

Franz Josef 184 this Month

Later this month the 184^th birthday of HLIRM Emperor-King Franz Josef I will be celebrated. The celebration is annual.

There is the celebration in Bad Ischl August 11 through 18. L'Associazione Culturale Mitteleuropa is not celebrating its festival but still organizing a ceremony at a cemetery August 22.

From last year's event in Bad Ischl:

Kaiserfest is a tradition also in other towns of the Habsburg lands. Amongst the towns that have been having such festivals are Görz, Millstatt, and Maria Wörth.

Melville

Five years short of a couple of centuries ago today, Herman Melville was born.

In this year of the 225^th anniversary of the outbreak of the French Revolution – and bicentennial of the Norwegian Constitution – we remember: In Mardi: And A Voyage Thither Melville wrote:

Better be secure under one king, than exposed to violence from twenty millions of monarchs, though oneself be one of them.

August 1914

A century ago today, the Great War broke out in Europe.

Quote of the Month

Writes Mr. Peter Hitchens over at The American Spectator:

To say that that the First World War was the greatest cataclysm in human history since the fall of the Roman Empire is to put it mildly. The war destroyed so many good things and killed so many good people that civilization has not recovered and probably never will.

[...]

The loss cannot be measured in cash because it was paid in the more elusive coin of faith, morals, trust, hope, and civility. The war is the reason why Europe is no longer a Christian continent, because too many churches supported it. Pointing to the poverty and scientific backwardness of the pre-1914 world is a false comparison. Who is to say that we could not have grown just as rich as we are now, and made just as many technological and medical advances, had we not slain the flower of Europe’s young men before they could win Nobel Prizes, or even beget and raise children?

The astonishing thing is that so many conservative, Christian, and patriotic people have yet to understand the damage this event did to their causes. It is at least partly because we can barely begin to imagine the world that we lost.

[...]

Those on the Left should defend it and rejoice over it. It was the fulfillment of their dreams. No single event has done more to advance the power of the state and of state socialism. Britain barely had a state before 1914. By 1918 it was one of the most tightly governed and bureaucratized patches of soil in the world. The Russian revolution would never have happened had there been no war in 1914. The great Christian and conservative empires of the world would probably all still exist. War also brought about the sexual, social, and cultural revolutions that are still convulsing what used to be Christendom.

previous

Kuehnelt-Leddihn at 105

105 years ago today, Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn was born.

Please feel free to browse previous posts.

Two Emperors and some Telegrams

A century ago today, Wilhelm II and Nicholas II started a four day exchange of telegrams.

July 28, 1914

It is July 28, 1914. It is a fateful day. A dreadful, horrendous conflict is about to be unleashed.

A century ago today. In the Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl, Austria-Hungary declares war on the Kingdom of Serbia – on the day a month after the shots of Sarajevo.



As this video lecture says, the war hawks were officials serving under the monarchs, and they practiced disloyalty in order to have their war, even lying about Serbian forces firing first:

Hoppe on Democracy and Monarchy

Part of a lecture by Prof. Hans-Hermann Hoppe:

Huxley at 120

A dozen decades ago today, Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World was born.

The Kingdom of Serbia Responds

A hundred years ago today, the Kingdom of Serbia responded to the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum.

Centenary of the July Ultimatum

A century ago today, the Austro-Hungarian Empire issued its ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia.

Stauffenberg Attempt at 70

Seven decades ago today, Count Claus von Stauffenberg attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, failing miserably.

An interview with a grandson of his:

Slaughter at Ipatiev House

Remember Yekaterinburg!

Eight dozen years ago today.

Colonel-General de la Fayette

Nine quarters of a century ago today, the Marquis de la Fayette was selected Colonel-General of the National Guard of Paris.

Long Live the King of France!

225 years ago today, the Storming of the Bastille took place.

Elsewhere: Tea at Trianon

Assassination Investigation Completed

A century ago today, Austria-Hungary concluded the investigation of the Sarajevo Assassination.

Necker Dismissal

225 years ago today, Jacques Necker was dismissed as Director-General of Finance of the Kingdom of France.

Burr and Hamilton

210 years ago today, American monarchist and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton was mortally wounded in a duel.

National Constituent Assembly of France

225 years ago today, the National Constituent Assembly was formed.

Cropredy Bridge at 370

37 decades ago today (June 29 in the Julian Calendar), the Battle of Cropredy Bridge was fought.

War and the Economy

James Corbett debunks the myth that World War II brought an end to the Great Depression:

H/T: The Daily Paul

Strutt Passing at 66

We mark 66 years since the passing of this weblog's icon, or mascot if you will, Lt.-Col. Strutt, of whom the late Archduke Otto had a fond memory.

Lt.-Col. Strutt gave a few helping hands to the Habsburg family.

He served with the Royals Scots:

Please feel free to browse posts on this great officer.

Poll Results: Who or What Is Most to Blame for the Rise of Democratic Absolutism?

The results for the poll, with the question “Who or what is most to blame for the rise of democratic absolutism?,” ending at midnight between June and July, are as follows:

Total votes: 51.

• The Enlightenment: 28 (54%)
• French revolutionaries: 10 (19%)
• The Allies of World War One: 3 (5%)
• None of the [other stated alternatives]. Someone or something else: 3 (5%)
• English Whigs: 2 (3%)
• Napoleon Bonaparte: 1 (1%)
• The Central Powers of World War One: 1 (1%)
• 19th century Western politicians: 1 (1%)
• Monarchical absolutism: 1 (1%)
• None of the [other stated alternatives]. None are to blame: 1 (1%)
• American colonial rebels: 0 (0%)
• Pre-1900 constitutional monarchism: 0 (0%)

A new poll will be up soon.